Former Ghost Members Lose Lawsuit Against Tobias Forge

The lawsuit against Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge brought on by his former bandmates has been dismissed. After a six-day trial in Sweden, the court ruled in favor of Forge, forcing the ex-Ghost musicians to pay the frontman’s legal fees.

In 2017, four musicians came forward to reveal their identities while filing suit against Tobias Forge. Guitarists Simon Soderberg and Henrik Palm, drummer Martin Hjertstedt and keyboardist Mauro Rubino sued for SEK 200,000 (roughly $22,000) in unpaid compensation. Though the musicians were paid a fixed salary, the foursome argued they had not received their rightful share of Ghost’s profits during their tenure.

In November 2017, the parties got together to see if a settlement was possible, but no such agreement was met. At 11AM this morning (Oct. 17) the former Nameless Ghouls lost their case and were hit with Forge’s SEK 1.3 million (roughly $145,000) bill, on top of paying their own legal fees. Forge had originally asked for SEK 2 million (roughly $224,000) in compensation, but the district court found that SEK 1.3 million was reasonable.

According to Linkoping News, “The district court also writes that it is unclear what is actually meant to ‘constitute’ a music group. They also think it is obvious that Tobias Forge, Simon Söderberg and three other people were involved in the band in different ways. They agreed that they would play together, repeat and perform at concerts. But that is not enough to show that it would be a business relationship. The judgment states: ‘On the contrary, a number of circumstances speak for the lack of such intention.’”

The four musicians have three weeks to submit an appeal, but there’s no word on whether they plan to continue legal proceedings.